Two major fellowships, the Marshall Scholarship and the Schwarzman Scholarship, released results on Dec. 11 and Dec. 13, respectively. While four Princeton-affiliated students won the Schwarzman scholarship to study at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, no Princeton students were among recipients of the Marshall Scholarship.
Princeton has historically lagged behind Harvard and Yale in fellowship results. This year, while Princeton had one Rhodes scholar, Harvard had 10 Rhodes scholars and Yale had four Rhodes scholars. Harvard and Yale both had five affiliates as Marshall Scholars this year and 11 and seven Schwarzman scholars respectively.
This year marks the first time since the Class of 2015 that zero Princeton students won the Marshall Scholarship. The Marshall Scholarship allows up to 50 students at American universities to earn a graduate degree at any university in the United Kingdom.
According to the scholarship’s website, the Schwarzman Scholarship is modeled after the Rhodes Scholarship and allows up to 200 students to earn a one-year master’s in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing. It describes itself as “one of the world’s most selective graduate and fellowship programs.” This year, 141 students from universities around the world were awarded the scholarship.
The scholarship’s prominence reflects an increasing focus on China from U.S. institutions. Since the program’s inception in 2016, 38 Princeton students and alumni have received the scholarship. This year, Genrietta Churbanova ’24, Thomas Hughes ’24, Oluwatise Okeremi ’24, and Eric Stinehart ’20 were winners of the scholarship.
Churbanova is the strategic initiative director for the financial stipend for the ‘Prince.’
Stinehart makes the eighth alum to win the scholarship after graduating from Princeton, while the rest of Princeton’s awardees went to Beijing the year after graduating.
Stinehart told The Daily Princetonian that he also applied to the Schwarzman Scholarship as a senior, and feels that he was able to succeed this application because he has more purpose and clarity with what he wants to do as a scholar.
“As someone who’s a few years out of Princeton rather than quite a few people who are doing it, kind of right after graduation, I think I’ll be bringing in some different work experiences, as well as personal and professional experiences. And I think that’ll enhance my experience there,” Stinehart told the ‘Prince.’
Stinehart, who is currently working as an impact investment analyst with Hopelab Ventures in San Francisco, said he was interested in international studies throughout his time in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He said he intends to continue working with mental health in international communities, like he is at Hopelab Ventures.
Hughes told the ‘Prince’ that he is looking forward to studying China’s infrastructure.
“What fascinates me so much about China is their ability to very, very quickly create enormous infrastructure,” he said. “And I love the idea of going for a year understanding everything I can about the technology scene there, what it looks like on a diplomatic scale, like how the Belt and Road initiatives come together, and how they source all those resources.”
Okeremi told the ‘Prince’ that she intends to use her time in Beijing to study Chinese development and bring what she learns back to her home country of Nigeria and help its development.
“Right now, the way I’m seeing it is being in the government and working in the public sector of Nigeria,” Okermi said. “Down the line, I could be Nigeria’s president, if I feel like that’s a good way to see my goals and see the change I want to see in Nigeria.”
Churbanova will be focusing on the Russian population in China, as she did in her junior paper at Princeton, and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology after her time in Beijing. She told the ‘Prince’ that she feels it’s important to be studying in China, especially right now.
“It’s really important to engage with China right now,” Churbanova said. “Maybe some people feel unmotivated to do so because of recent complications or like political feelings, but I think regardless of all that, it’s more important than ever.”
Charlie Roth is a head Data editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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